Well... It's been over a year since there have been any podcast updates, via either TWoL or Type II. The iTunes feed, and twitter feeds, and I would image the FaceBook pages all have been pretty stagnant. Even hopes of bringing some lot reports have been sporadic at best; perhaps a few retweets from my other accounts. Despite all that, many have still had TWoL locked.

The reason for said decline is no secret. I have been busy with school and still hitting shows and traveling and whatnot. Throughout this though, at least since last May, I decided to rekindle my love for photography, shooting somewhat seriously and on a regular basis. Believe you me, I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon, but it's fun and hopefully some of you out their enjoying looking at things from my perspective.

So with that said, I'll be using the old TWoL twitter account to post photos from shows, traveling, and other daily life happenings that are perhaps mildly interesting, or at least not mediolker (see what I did there?). I hope you will continue to follow along on this next adventure.

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who came out to the annual YEMSG tweetup. I think we can put this one in the "success" column.

Over the course of the evening, I would estimate just under 100 people attended, many old faces but some new twibers as well. Beer and food were plentiful, and to the best of my knowledge, not one person wooked out on their bill. The raffle went well thanks to a legit pa system, and we even pulled off the first decent indoor group photo. On the flip side, I did forget to print the tweebay responses, so I'll post those below. And the name tag situation was less than perfect, but we can blame that on twtvite. ;-)

Special thanks goes out to Phanart and SetListTees for donating items for the raffle. There was quite the assortment of pins, stickers, and t-shirts that were won. In the end, we were able to donate $90 to mockingbird. Big ups go out to FuryThug for providing us with the space at AOA Bar and Grill. Mad credit must be given to SnoopKatieKate for going in early to set up and help with hosting duties. Shout out to CabanaGhost for getting me the name tags at the last minute. Finally, thanks to everyone who kicked in a few bucks, it keeps this event economically viable on my end.

Happy new year everyone, and cheers to many more events in the future.

- Steve

What were your favorite twibe moments of 2013?

Sunday at Dicks, Twibe rage party on mike's side.

The Dicks meet-up was amazing because there were so many of us! Using the flowers to create a Twibe dance space from Bangor to Chicago to Dicks also made me so happy!

@thisalbumsucks ate macaroni and cheese

The deadbeat juntas kicked out of this year's edition.

Roadtrip to Chicago with King Wooks Steve and Katie. Also Hampton. All of it.

So I had this Dicks webcast party and of course I invited my Twibe friends. I decided to have a taco bar as the main course. Tyler, a twiber and good friend of mine, decided to bring some homemade hot sauce to accompany said taco bar. Fast forward many margaritas later, an idea was hatched! Tyler and I would make hot sauce and attempt to sell it on Phish Fall Tour. I know, just another silly, drunken idea. It would never work...or would it? Well we got the peppers, sourced the bottles, designed some kickass labels, established celebrity relationships (Aron Magner), and went to work. So much love and positive vibes began occurring right away. First in Hampton, then Reading, then in AC at the PhanArt poster show, on Twitter, on Facebook, everywhere we went! We couldn't keep these bottles in stock! Our hot sauce shipped to 9 states. It literally caught fire! 80 bottles of hot sauce later we now see this as more than just a silly idea. It's now a passion project that we truly believe could be life changing. We couldn't have done it without the love from the Twibe. They never stopped believing in us, encouraging us, sharing ideas on how to sell more of it, telling their friends about it, and inspiring us to pursue our star furthur. Thank you tacos. Thank you Tweezer. Thank you Twibe. - Troy & Tyler @TylersHotSauce

filming the movie at Dicks, all the fun random meetups in NYChampton and meeting everyone

I just vote for @meearf. Whatever category he can win, he should.

a bunch of people IDK followed me with twibe ribbon and a trey face which makes it really easy to identify who you are on lot.

I went to a poly meetup the other night in Queens. In the course of the evening, I had a conversation with a gentlemen who expressed some issues with anxiety, relationships, a need to connect with others. He was at this meetup to speak with like minded people. To meet others who wanted to be open. To learn something. To feel comfortable in his skin.

I let him speak for what felt like an hour, but was probably only 10 minutes. At one point, he described the following:

A “TurnOn” Event

TurnOn: [turn on] v. sensations occurring in the body

• Increased body heat

• Tingling and chills

• Flushing cheeks

• Feeling of being awake and alive

TurnOn is the ignition that leads to a more of what we really want in life. It is the first step to knowing what's possible. And, it comes when we get real about the powerful stuff of relationships, Orgasm, intimacy, desire, etc.

We designed the evening specifically to give people the opportunity to feel TurnON in themselves. It's an evening where, through only talking, we begin to experience these exhilarating, energizing, often ignored feelings -- referred to as TurnON. A room of people (cool, fun people) engage in honest, humorous, playful conversation around topics we mostly only consider having in our head.

Through 3 guided, round-robin style games, express yourself and gain new (and maybe surprising) insight into yourself and others. Fear, longing, taboo, love... Be with others who are willing to express it openly and be seen for who they really are. It's like a giant exhale when the rest of the world is asking you to hold it in.

High praises for this event were given. It changed his life. He advised me to attend, and was trying to organize a crossover event with the Poly people and the TurnOn people. (I’m not exactly sure if I should be using these descriptors, but what the hell ;-)

So anyway, I had few drinks in me, and being that I was in a place of open and honest communication, with no fear of social awkwardness, I dropped the following:

This sounds like my Phish experience. People, friends, strangers, experiencing a collective awakening. Being in tune, locked into each other. Love. Light. Energy. We have it all. I GUSHED. I told him about making it my every vacation. How it created a new culture to call my own. How music was there to soothe our souls. New relationships were formed and people connect. DO YOU HEAR WHAT I’M SAYING! In some way it has lead to my view on relationships. And thats is a good thing.

It was nice to speak these words on virgin ears. It probably had been a while. There was no bias either which made it all the better. No pop culture to tell him he shouldn’t believe. His mind was play-doh. PLAY-DOH!

Which reminded me. He needs to do acid. LSD. EVERYONE needs to do this. At least once. You see the world different. I hope this is no surprise to anyone reading this. Or maybe I do. Either way, he was eager to soak up this advice and I indulged. I spoke of how it could unlock his anxieties and help him resolve problems. I advocated for its use in a therapeutic setting and that If used properly, would be a powerful psychiatric medication. Not long passed before he was on board. He literally said he he wanted to trip. He was ready.

I’ve always felt the above were related on some level. Music, community, love, openness, psychedelics. At least for me. And there was something special about linking it all together for this gentleman. So I wanted to share.